Honest opinion or validation
When it comes to opinions, some people care about everyone’s opinion, others only care about the opinions of those that are more successful and others don’t give a damn what anyone thinks on a certain topic.
When the topic of domain appraisals comes up, things can get spicy and sometimes nasty. I have always believed many just want validation, not an honest opinion.
Of course the quality of names runs the gamut from the very bad to the very good. A lot of times newer domain investors use the appraisal section to list each new hand reg they have made in the past week.
When bad domains are listed for appraisal they usually get $0 or reg fee replies. A lot of the time the person who started the thread gets nasty with the appraiser.
The question you need to ask yourself is “Do I want an honest opinion of my domain?” or “I just really want someone to agree with my valuation so I feel better about the purchase”
Its understandable and human nature to want someone to agree with you and your value of your asset. It is not what an appraisal section should be about.
Appraisal Sections
Lately there has been a call to clean up the domain appraisal section at Namepros.
NickB opined:
I think there is an issue with the appraisal section that needs looking at…..
When giving appraisals can we have a rule that stops people just quoting a figure with no explanation on how they came up with it?
A lot of people that use the appraisal section are new to the industry (I used it a lot when I first started) and I for one still go there to read and try to learn about how to price domains…
When I see what look like random figures being given as an appraisal it really jars with me. In some cases they seem wildly optimistic, in others they are downright misleading.
This can lead to false hope, people registering more domains of a similar ilk which can lead to people spending a lot of money based on a figure someone seemingly has plucked from the air with absolutely no context on why they arrived at that appraisal amount.
Seems wrong to me……
Namepros has the below rule in place already……I would like to see this updated to include all appraisals
5.1. All appraisals below $10 USD must include a unique and constructive explanation to support the assessment.
Would like to see peoples opinion on expanding the above to include ALL appraisals
Any feedback from the community and Mods would be appreciated……
False Hope???
I think the false hope part stands out, as newer investors really do stake their emotional claim to a name based on another new member who likes their name, or an automated appraisal system that is clearly off.
So do domain appraisals do more harm than good? Personally I never cared what another human being thought about a domain name, if they are not the buyer, means nothing to me.
They did not contribute to the purchase price, they are not helping with any shortfalls. Sure people will always comment, but the person that just picked up Blue.com or Niq.com knows they got a good domain name, any commentary to the contrary would just be nonsense.
I think there can be something to be gained when talking about the acquisition price and if one feels it’s a good entry price?
But when most people are asking for appraisals on recent hand regs, the most helpful thing might be no appraisal. It also doesn’t help that inspires anger in some, when they don’t like what they read.
Whenever I called such BS I was told to read: “The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.”
Now a lot could be said but let me point something out…
“views by STAFF are not the views of NamePros”.
So what, NamePros is run by an untouchable? Aren’t STAFF = NamePros? Shouldn’t the staff be offended?
Shouldn’t STAFF *BE* NAMEPROS? What am I missing? Does anyone else see how disrespectful this is to staff AND users? As if NamePros staff don’t speak for NamePros?? NamePros is some monolith, untouchable because of some illegitimate disclaimer? I mean think about it – this is a DISCUSSION forum. 100% ridiculous – would get trashed by competent lawyers in court if it came to that.
The employees ARE what makes a company! Saying otherwise is EXTREMELY arrogant.
The problem I find with “appraisals” is that sometimes those giving them have an agenda ,and more importantly they do not really give a true valuation as to what you may well be able to achieve. I have checked some of my private sales that are never publicized and they bear no resemblance to the appraisals , infact one was a thousand times less than what I sold for. Also it is detrimental for sellers of domains if a member of public sees the appraisal (I mean assassination) and thinks that is what they should pay.
Yes, I quite agree as I do think such appraisals are really meaningless since they are only used for general comparison purposes, especially they are only based on keywords for popularity, value, domain extension or age and nothing else! It would indeed be much better off for all of us to use past sales comparison instead or use the latest important news or trends, especially when these expired or dropped domains are usually past dreams and therefore no longer relevant or of any value!
The first thing to appraisal for me is to define a use…a lot to go on from there.
I wouldn’t even try to appraise 99.9% of the domains that exist. They are just vague and meaningless to me. Well, we know at least 99% are worthless for investment purposes anyway. Everyone draws their own lines. I’m into macro investing. I ask a simple question: is it worth owning for this price/fees or not.
“Worth owning” is about as difficult to explain as giving an exact appraisal. So let’s just say you wing that part – instinct. I can remind you: ‘define a use’…a lot from there.
Okay quick aside…this is funny, but it is for REAL! Other ppls appraisal means about 0! What you SHOULD be asking domainers, is if they would take your domain FOR FREE. If they would – you might want to keep that one.
On the sell side, I like hugedomains model: Buy based on criteria (even if it’s not scientific) that you know will profit at a general price point. If you are buying lots of domains, selling them at similar prices, then you rly have something easy to work with.
So yea, IMO, do what hugedomains does! Buy a ton of domains (LOL), pick a price, set them all the same price. Set BIN (be non-negotiating). It’s SO easy, right? Then ALL you have to do is wait & figure out how much $ you will make on spreadsheets – no need to worry about individual appraisals ever again! I know most people don’t do it this way! But it’s possible.
A big deception I think, is seeing ALL the bad domains that exist. Then noobs settle for something honestly markedly better (even if only they think so) but never get ahold of what REALLY is -good enough-. Right, they are so far out of touch.
Looking at individual domain names from someone is a joke anyway. Let me see ALL your domains. Let’s trash your absolute JUNK instead of pretending we know how much money you could make.
Just follow my Twitter to view my domains but I usually use .COM’s (not NTLD’s like yours which are just worth very little or nothing anyway) only based on my own criteria (just like Huge Domains) or extensive research and do not really bother with these such appraisal values like GoDaddy, etc!
It wasn’t rly a hit straight on you. I was talking about the whole thing. We already follow each other on twitter. I must like your domains better than most because usually, I mute the ppl that do nothing but spam single domain names all day.
Also concerning nTLD not being worth anything; It SURE isn’t easy for me to register objectively good ones. 99% of what I think ‘maybe’, are really already taken. That said. I don’t invest because they are worth A LOT right now. That would just mean I paid a lot. That’s how markets work. I invest because they’re going to be worth A LOT more in the future…that’s the whole point.
Saying ‘not worth a lot’ is a misguided distraction and offensive. Offensive because current value *doesn’t mean* it’s a bad investment. You domainers think you all have nice .coms that ‘your yard’ is pretty, that it doesn’t make you a pc of shit. Just like California, right ‘pretty yard’, I’m a good person! Then it burns down. That’s what’s going to happen. I’m not attacking you, I am explaining what’s going to happen in the nicest way.
Today (alone) doesn’t mean squat. It’s the WHOLE big picture, the past, the trend, and the future. Investors that invest based on ‘right now’ (basically their emotions) get rekt.
Okay maybe worth A LOT more in the future but I don’t think or plan that far ahead, thanks.
To some extent, I try to avoid the appraisal issue by focusing only on exact-match geographic domains. (Also avoids trademark issues.)
The name must match exactly with a city (esp. capital cities) / state / country that gets plenty of interest (as evidenced by Google Trends or Google News, or tweets that have been written in the last ten minutes to one hour, etc.).
The extension must be either the relevant ccTLD for that locality, or .com.
I sold a four word .com yesterday for $4975. It has an estibot value of $100.
I had not even seen your comment when I made mine below about four hours ago. Estibot’s “appraisal” service is an abomination, the scum of the earth, and has caused immense harm to everyone. Including any misguided fools who say they like it. And they are not alone.
Congrats on the sale. I once had a company listed on the London Stock Exchange try to buy one of my longest four word .coms.
That is a great & brilliant example which does show that these appraisals like auction estimates are totally pointless and still often fail to materialise. The only clear thing is whether the real buyer is just happy or prepared to pay his price!
Domain appraisals have always been one of the worst, ugliest and most harmful things about the entire industry. Including of course the purported automated “appraisals” (usually total abominations).
Posting a domain in an appraisal thread is a first class ticket to problems. Unless it’s one like that time George Kirikos posted his “new baby” at old DNF, Math dot com. I was there. But even then there can be problems if people either don’t know diddley about real value or want to trash you or your domain.
It’s not just that people are deluded about their own domains or want to hear what they want to hear – it’s also that people who “appraise” are often cutthroat predatory liars, engaging in personal animosity, or just plain clueless.
Automated appraisals (total bs) help a specific type of domainer. The one that sells at 2-3k each. Everyone else, it’s harming.
So hugedomains loves it, perhaps. Godaddy too. It gives a higher value to domains that are rather worthless.
VERY harmful to people that want to extract fair+ value of a truly premium name.
It’s really, really bad…a lot could be said about how bad. They need to go away. They won’t 🙁
I’ve never had a good experience with a domain appraisal because the methodology is usually geared toward domain investors looking to flip and not endusers who are looking to develop or upgrade their brand. For example, domain investors will always value the number of letters in a name. According to that methodology, our Eel.com should be worth more than our Nashville.com or Sample.com, but it’s not. Not even close. When we sold Whisky.com for $3.1 million, the #1 comment we heard was, “Wow, I can’t believe you got that much for a six-letter domain.”
By the way, the most Whisky.com was ever appraised at was $100,000.
I’m not one of David’s favorite people right now, 😀 but listen up folks: this comment should be “required reading” in the industry.
Domain names were my “first love” in my online business journey. That’s where I started in 2001, but I quickly became an end user first, domainer second, and that’s where I’ve been for years and intend to stay till the end.
One of the worst and most harmful things to happen to and persist in domaining is this stuck and narrow mindset of “domainer think” with regard to value and valuation. It’s a mistake the size of an ocean. It’s viewing the great real estate analogy in terms of fixation upon residential real estate instead of commercial real estate.
The only way to properly evaluate a domain is with the perspective of an end user and real world real end user potential. While that is usually primarily commercial in nature, it can also include considerations that transcend direct and immediate commercial considerations as well. The key word is “empathy,” the empathy of a real end user; not, make no mistake, the kind of “empathy” which says “I’ll give them a break since they’ve said they have a low budget, or it’s for a school project,” but the kind of empathy which understands and can truly relate to the true and real potential of the name and why end users would want it. And that is the perspective which should be pursued and practiced – if not by experience, then at least by thought and understanding.
PS: and to be clear, the “this comment” which should be required reading I referred to above is David’s. Mine’s ok perhaps, but I’m just a humble drifter in the night passing through.